DANGER ROOM (BATTLE BOX & EDH CUBE) MTGIXALAN UPDATE
Lost Caverns of Ixalan was a great set and I’m excited to finally get the new cards into my Battle Box Commander Cube to play with for dueling and drafting. One of the things I love so much about my stack is that it provides a TON of versatile play opportunities because it’s functional as a 1v1 Battle Box stack, a 1v1 Cube Draft, or a multiplayer EDH Cube.
I’ve put in a lot of mental energy to tune it up and get it ready for play. Card selections are tough because every card I select has to be useful in multiple contexts: Battle Box, 1v1 Draft, as well as multiplayer EDH draft. I won’t toot my own horn too much but it’s a really fun stack to play in a wide variety of ways.
I really like the set and have enjoyed the Limited format quite a bit over the past few weeks, which means I’m really positive about adding Limited staples to my stack. I’m also a fan of the MTG flavor as opposed to Universes Beyond, so I get my picks in where I feel like I’m getting great design with the organic MTG flavor I prefer.
In particular, I’m a big fan of many of the LCI Uncommon multicolor Legendary creatures and added quite a few to my collection. I find the power level of Uncommon Legendary gold creatures to be quite high and strike a nice balance with the top notch Limited format defining cards I tend to build my play experience around AND access to more Legendaries for EDH Draft creates opportunities and redundancies for players to build multiplayer decks around.
The current way that I play my stack for EDH draft is that four (or eight, but haven’t played with eight yet) draft the stack and at the end each player builds a minimum 40 card main deck and may choose one Legendary (that they drafted) to serve as their Commander in the Command Zone. Cards in deck are not influenced by the Commander in the Command Zone, so for example a player is allowed to use a 2-color UB Dimir color Commander and play a UBG 3-color Sultai color deck. A little counterintuitive because of how traditional Commander deck building works, but it provides a lot of play to the game.
I do this because it makes the draft archetypes a little more flexible by providing the drafters with more options. Redundancy of Legendary Creatures also insulates drafters from missing out on being able to find a great Commander in their colors. Also, since the stack provides game play that is somewhere in between traditional EDH and Pauper Commander, I like using the 30 hit points starting life total.
Overall, Ixalan is a way above average set for Battle Box staples and I found quite a few. Let’s get more specific.
White was the deepest color in the set for options I considered adding to my stack. I found two designs I really liked and each for different reasons.
I really like Helping Hand as a Battle Box staple. Returning a slain or discarded 2 or 3 drop creature to play for a single W is pretty good in the abstract. It feels similar to Unearth in a color that doesn’t typically have access to reanimation effects.
I also think the card has some really nice synergy potential in BW Sacrifice decks I’ve been working on supporting in draft.
A unique blend of good in Battle Box and EDH Draft. Its ETB trigger scales up to take a permanent from EACH opponent which makes the design quite nifty in EDH. I actually found out about the card playing EDH Precons and was really impressed with this dinosaur. It’s a pretty obscure but useful card. I swapped out Oblivion Ring for this card, so I think it’s a nice upgrade on a kind of weak staple (especially in multiplayer).
I only found one Blue card I liked…
Kitesail Larcenist is kind of like a Blue Bronzebeak Foragers with respect to how it looks to play out. I enjoy cards like these in multiplayer because they have a big impact on the board state when played by impacting all opponents at once.
I’ve been on the lookout for cards that influence the entire game in multiplayer, and Tithing Blade is another prime example of a Limited gem that scales up nicely for EDH.
I also like that it Crafts into a source of recurring damage, and sticks around in play to grow one’s devotion to black for Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
I’m a huge fan of equipment in my stack and I thought Diamond Pick-Axe was the best equipment in the set. I continue to work mana production into my stack, while trying to keep the balance between having it ‘matter’ without being ‘overpowered.’
Things that will always be supported in my stack… Drawing and discarding cards to generate filtering of options!
Inti is a flexible way to draw and discard that also puts Power and Toughness onto the board in the format of +1/+1 Counters. +1/+1 Counters cards are an area I’d like to continue to add more depth for in my stack.
For me, the story of Lost Caverns of Ixalan are the sweet 2-color Legendary creatures. I’ve really been enjoying these designs from the past year or so and am happy to include for diversity and redundancy of Legendary creatures for drafting EDH style.
A very solid two drop with a ton of play to it. I’ve been trying to find new ways to support sacrifice archetypes in my stack, as well as +1/+1 counters and this card hits the mark for me. Easy include.
Boros also gets a nice Legendary from this set. I don’t know how great this one will be since it requires some board presence in order to generate an attack trigger but it’s worth a shot.
These Legendaries’ names are out of control! Pure nonsense and a mouthful at that. With that said, I do like this Dino as a crossformat card. I’ve attempted to bring Dinosaurs into a supported role in my Cube for RG Beats and so they needed a Commander!
Two very good abilities on a Green White Legendary. With Equipment and +1/+1 Counters both being fully supported in my stack, I think Kutzil will be a fun Commander to build around plus it keeps players from playing during your turn.
Zoyowa is a neat Commander for a Rakdos deck that feels really aggressive. Between looting, combat and sacrifice there are lots of ways to Descend which makes this card easy enough to trigger. It also has Deathtouch which makes it a great blocker in a pinch.
UW Blink is a supported archetype in my stack and this is a great Commander for that deck. I also think the stats are very good which makes it a nice Battle Box card as well – especially the Ward 2.
I typically don’t include too many Mythics (because they feel too powerful) but I’m going to give this Saheeli a try. I think it would be a sweet Commander to build around and I like it can come down in the front of the mana curve. The ability to create Hasty clones on creatures with ETB effects seems super useful especially in multiplayer.
MY TOP 8 BATTLE BOX / EDH CUBE STAPLES FROM LOST CAVES OF IXALAN
I’ve been playing my Battle Box a lot lately at home and at the store and these are the cards I’m most impressed with in my stack. Not because they are broken, or overpowered, but because they play nicely balanced with the rest of my stack. I’m also a big fan of support for Casual Commander cards within sets that are designed like real Limited cards. I think these kinds of Legendaries have really helped flesh my stack out for multiplayer and have me looking forward to the next EDH Draft!
